Happenings in the studio

I just received my copy of "Incite, Dreams Realized: The Best of Mixed Media".

 

What an inspiring collection of Mixed Media art. I am honored to be featured on page 109!

 

 

 

I am in high gear preparation for Art-Is-You 2013.

Here are some teaser photos from my classes:

 

Character Creation

 

Inky Folk

 

Paint with Abandon

 

I am also working on my classes for next years Art-Is-You,...more to come!

 

 

 

 

Where did the summer go?

It is clear that summer, for me is for "filling my well," not sitting at my computer. So much has occurred since my last post. Here is the short photo version of what I have been up to....

Saw an awesome concert by Rodrigo y Gabriella at the Jacksonville, OR Britt Festival



Had a month long visit from my granddaughter which involved lots of shopping!

and art making (all these she made...)

Found inspiration in Portland...



Saw an outdoor production of "Midsummer Nights Dream" at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

 

Made more art with my granddaughter. These are "gallbladders" to replace the one my daughter had removed this summer!

Taught kids art classes for the Grants Pass Art Museum

Took a tour of Fire Mountain Gems (located in my town!). This is detail of a piece in the lobby, all done with seed beads.

Worried and endured the smoke from the brush fires in Southern Oregon....

Visited the San Diego Zoo!

Learned (relative term..) how to row my hubbies new drift boat.

Spent 5 days painting with Jesse Reno....

 

Visited the Grotto in Portland, Or

 

 

 

 

 

 

Worked on my Japanese style garden taking shape outside my studio...a work in progress.

 

Won 3rd place in the Southern Oregon Art Show at the Firehouse Gallery in Grants Pass, OR

 

 

The school busses are out on the road and the temperatures are cooling down. Fall is coming....my favorite season!



 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



The Joy of Teaching



I just returned from teaching my class "Imperfect Beauty" at the Pacific Northwest Art School on beautiful Whidbey Island, WA. I had a wonderful experience and was able to work with an amazing group of women. We shared and took risks and enjoyed the process of making expressive faces for 2 days. Here is some of the awesome work they produced in such a short time. ....



Colorful, loose, original, joyful art! What more can you ask for?

The work of Creating a Class

I have really been neglecting my blog.....I have been busy working on some of my upcoming classes. To go from concept, to samples, to actual class day, is a long process for me. I approach it as if I am the student, so my expectations are high. I am constantly trying to find the balance - enough information to challenge, but not overwhelm folks. With the supply list supplies in front of me (very important), I work on my samples. My biggest irritation as a student, is to gather all the supplies on the list, only to find out we only used a fraction of them. Once the samples are done and the outline and handouts are written. I go through a dry run of the class to determine the order of "operations." Mixed media is a bit of a dance between supplies, drying time, demonstrations and making actual art. All of this is necessary for a great classroom experience. Here is a sample for my upcoming class "Imperfect Beauty: A Mixed Media Approach to Face and Form". In one exercise, we will be taking a photo of ourselves and transforming it into something really dramatic.

Here is the original:

Me...a little younger!

Me, as a very dramatic geisha....water soluble crayons and a little black and white paint.
I am so looking forward to seeing what my students will do! There is still time to sign up for the class on beautiful Whidbey Island, WA at the
Pacific Northwest School of Art
June 29-30, 2013
Just click on Mixed Media Workshops

 

21 Secrets

I hope those of you following my blog received my newsletter. If you did not, be sure to sign up. I am hoping to do it at least twice a year, more if there is positive feedback. I have been missing my journaling time getting ready for Artwalk in a few short weeks, so I signed up for 21Secrets - an art journaling workshop to entice me to take some time out for play. The classes can be taken in any order, so I jumped in with Danielle Daniel and played with her prompts.

For some reason I picked up the grey paint, so it is a little somber. I wanted to try some color combinations I don't usually use.  I had fun with this background - what a mess!

This is the other page of the spread.

I decided not to put anything in the background so I could remember what I did. I plan on doing something completely different on the other side. We'll see how it goes....

"Problem Child" Painting

I have been painting like crazy getting ready for Artwalk in San Diego at the end of April. I read an article recently about taking one of your "problem child" paintings. The ones that were finished but not quite right. I had just such a painting in my studio, staring at me. It was done on a cradled board that my hubby made, a surface too good to gather dust, so I pulled it out and evaluated it. Here it is....

I painted this in 2005 and it was time for drastic measures. I liked the eyes and the fish. The background had some great collage elements that were lost with too much paint. So I lightly sanded all of the painting except the eyes and fish. There was no bringing back the collage, so I decided to add some paper to cover the nose and mouth and some around the neck. I wish I had taken photos, but was in kind of a frenzy to see how I could fix it. I added texture through some stencils with "Wood Icing" - a trick from fellow mixed media artist Mary Beth Shaw, then dripped white acrylic ink and let it dry. The next day I reshaped the face and dripped some more ink and here is the result....

I really love the way this came out. My other "problem children" better watch out!

What a Process!

It has been more than a month since I have posted. I have been in a sort of frenzy trying to get some new paintings completed, then all of a sudden I looked around the studio and have finished 4 fairly large paintings and several small ones. My process is one of discovery and requires some level of patience (which is not one of my stronger qualities!) I thought I would share the evolution of the painting I shared early in January...

This is the painting at the point of discovering a story....

A lot going on here, I was refining the figures and saw a "creature" in the right corner, but was stumped on a plan of attack...

When in doubt drip some more paint!

Working on the faces, still not sure if there is a creature or if it is a plant?

The creature on the right finally surfaced, but at this point I felt the painting needed to be simplified. I actually ended up paining over most of the background with grey paint..a moment of insanity or bravery, not sure which...

The final painting. I call it "I am". I noticed that in my last few big pieces I have been putting a little "soul" somewhere in the painting...this one has the little guy on the bottom left...